Of rabbits and men

cedric · Post by **cedric** » February 26th, 2004, 7:19 pm

Yes, now they've been pointed out I can't help seeing only flaws in my drawing.

I'm going to do it again, at least the body. But for the face, I think I'll keep it mostly as it is now (maybe making him a bit older, to fit the storyline best).
And if no one complains about the unit sprite look, I'll work on its animations.

I'm not the best person to argue on the Wesnoth graphics style, since I'm now too involved in it, but I must say I like them. When I discovered Wesnoth some time ago, my first impression has been of a very well done artwork (only Li'sar surprised me a bit, and Konrad had an exagerated smile at the time), and this is one important reason I'm contributing now. That said, I'm not against another campaign with a different style, but personnaly I'll stick with the current one.

Also, the scenarios are quietly taking shape, with the help of a few people.

But more on this later: for the moment, artwork is the priority.

--
Cedric

Post by **Aleksi** » February 27th, 2004, 9:09 am

I'll be helping you for that Cedric. 'back from vacation! You'll get mail.

Aleksi.

cedric · Post by **cedric** » February 28th, 2004, 7:26 pm

Looks like a troubadour playing his flute? Make no mistake, you definitely don't want to hear the sound coming from this instrument: a blowpipe throwing poisonous darts with high precision at unlucky victims.

Comments welcome.

(btw, has any weapon specialist done an attack button for blowpipe?)

--
Cedric

cedric · Post by **cedric** » February 29th, 2004, 11:20 pm

Here's the rework of Khreonas' portrait. Do you find this one better?

And a question concerning animation: when backstabbing, what should be the movement of the dague? (yes, I failed the entrance exam to the Slaugther's Guild

) From bottom to top? Lateral to cut throat? Or straight ahead towards the back?

--
Cedric

Gafgarion · Post by **Gafgarion** » February 29th, 2004, 11:31 pm

That new portrait is great. The partial obscuring of the face adds a lot to the "assassin" persona.

cedric · Post by **cedric** » March 12th, 2004, 7:29 am

unit_description="Falcons are masters of the skies. With incomparable speed they can swoop down unexpectedly on their preys, pecking at their vitals organs."

I've been using them for some time to hunt for poor rabbits

in my quest.

But this just gave me an idea about a more general Wesnoth (human or elve) unit: the falconer. Classical melee attack with a blade, but for long range attack he sends his falcons on his ennemies. Well, only a bit of brainstorming here, no images are ready yet, but I wanted to know if others find the idea appealing...

--
Cedric

Christophe33 · Post by **Christophe33** » March 12th, 2004, 8:39 am

Yes the new portrait for the master assassin is really nice, in the tone of the game. Maybe the blade should be darken: no light reflexion at night and maybe poisson coated

. L'habit ne fait certe pas le moine mais dans un jeux l'apparrence est essentielle.
For the unit, I like it except the eyes, reminds me of little guys (forgots the name) living in the desert of Tatoine in Starwars. Well, the eyes and the robes

. Maybe a bit more variation in the colors of the clothe/shoes under the robe would be good. It needs some details/variation to look interesting.
On the other hand I really love the hack.
I had beeen considering a shaman or beastmaster type of unit that would use animals to fight for him/her. At each level he/she would have a nastier animal set: wolf/hawk, snow leopard/eagle, bear/royal eagle. But I never went further and didn't even proposed it since I decided to focussed on dwarf (smaller so easier to draw?

)

The only thing.. hawks main attack are their claws/talon and speed, often breaking the backbone of their target when hitting it...they don't peck until after they got their prey. I remember a TV show about hunting with huge eagle in Mongolia... and the eagle killed a wolf in a single attack.
So you have all my approval to get such type of unit developped.

cedric · Post by **cedric** » March 14th, 2004, 2:10 pm

Thanks for the detailled comments on graphics, Christophe, I'll take them into account!

As for birds of preys, I think the way they attack depends on the victim (pigeon, rodent, snake) and their localisation (flying, on the ground). I even think that peregrin falcons do not use their talons for flying target, but just use the sheer shock, wings folded, resulting from the amazing speed they reach in diving attack. Thus, even if it is not 100% realistic, I chose one of the possible ways (humans are heavy target for which a unique talon blow is not sufficient)...

By the way, what is the preferred name: hawk or falcon?

Also, I wanted an animal at ease in mountains and independant (ie not guided by goblins like the wolves). And your idea of a snow leopard just pleased me, thank you, so here it is!

unit_description: "The Snow Leopard is the king of the mountain. When the night is falling, all creatures fear this silent and graceful hunter. Its agility and elusiveness even in the highest and most jagged rocks are unmatched. With its soft step, it stalks its preys within striking distance, and then gives a lethal bite at the neck."

Thoughts?
--
Cedric

Post by **turin** » March 14th, 2004, 2:57 pm

Cool!
The snow leopard looks like it is moving, not standing still, like most of the other mon-attack frames look.

Can i edit the hawks for a better looking version of crows? I think it will be cool if the Northerners get a crow unit.

cedric · Post by **cedric** » March 14th, 2004, 3:45 pm

turin wrote:Cool!
The snow leopard looks like it is moving, not standing still, like most of the other mon-attack frames look.

Yes, I wanted a feline/graceful stance, not something too static. But this can be changed (horses and flying units are also in movement, though). Anyway, I have yet the attack animations to draw...

turin wrote:Can i edit the hawks for a better looking version of crows? I think it will be cool if the Northerners get a crow unit.

Sure. I design these units with a quest in mind, but anyone is indeed welcome to reuse them in Wesnoth.

But please note that crows and birds of prey have slightly different silhouettes.
--
Cedric

Post by **Aleksi** » March 14th, 2004, 4:38 pm

I think its very good! Its inspiring!

cedric · Post by **cedric** » March 14th, 2004, 5:30 pm

Aleksi wrote:I think its very good! Its inspiring!

Nice to hear that!

But after a bit of playtesting, I realize it wasn't a so good idea.

I needed something to replace the Wolf Rider, but this cannot be a snow leopard. A unit with mountainfoot movement would deeply change the nature of the scenario. I'll have to find something else. Why not simply a wolf, with no rider?

Of course, if there's a need for a snow leopard in Wesnoth, I can keep on improving it. But for my own scenarios, I give it up.

--
Cedric

Christophe33 · Post by **Christophe33** » March 16th, 2004, 12:13 am

I don't seee your problem with a unit (I suppose you mean a fast unit) with moutainfoot. Snow leopard are living in steppes/toundra, but also in Himalaya. They don't need to be that fast in the game sine they don't have the wolf endurance for long distance travel. They hunt by ambushing prey and a fast dash on them. Wolf hunt in pack and will rty to trick a prey into a hidden group but also will keep following a tagret for long distance till they drop of exhaustion. What about bear? also good in rough terrain and ferocious but not a long distance runner.
As I mentioned before, royal eagle used forr hunting in Mongolia will kill wolfs or deers, so prey of human size..and using only their talon. I prey falcon for the name.

cedric · Post by **cedric** » March 16th, 2004, 12:39 am

Christophe33 wrote:I don't seee your problem with a unit (I suppose you mean a fast unit) with moutainfoot.

I have no general problem with this kind of unit, on the contrary (I just love playing with dwarves!

). It is just for a particular scenario, where I've tweaked the map, cautiously placed mountains and hills, and it works pretty well with wolf riders and their orcishfoot. Wolf rider was just a placeholder, awaiting to be replaced by another animal, but not a mounted one.
Replacing them with a snow leopard will just not work on this map, because they will use different pathes. That's all.

But I would be sad if snow leopard were completely abandonned. I truely hope they will be of some use. Somewhere else...

--
Cedric

Christophe33 · Post by **Christophe33** » March 16th, 2004, 7:23 pm

cedric wrote: I have no general problem with this kind of unit, on the contrary (I just love playing with dwarves! ).

Good, I love playing dwarves too and Im working (slowly) on a dwarf campaign. The main element that slow me down is the number of new dwarf units I need to draw since there will be nearly no non-dwarf used by the player. But I might include the snow leopard as well as Turin's Crebain as unique units that can be used as scout.

cedric wrote: It is just for a particular scenario, where I've tweaked the map, cautiously placed mountains and hills, and it works pretty well with wolf riders and their orcishfoot. Wolf rider was just a placeholder, awaiting to be replaced by another animal, but not a mounted one.
Cedric

Ok, what about a wild boar, they are nasty enough customers and a plain/forest dweller so not mountainfoot. it can even be upgraded into giant boar. Many countries have legends about giant boars. Et le sangliers c'st de bon ton pour un Francais